Nice @lean and greenI agree, the best is not isolate ourselves from other, otherwise: We must show that we can be natural, vegan and competitive.Nice to hear that.Great workouts.I am cutting, as I said, had to cut calories and need to lose at least 5 kgs till Feb. Working hard!!!!!Cheers

@C.O. It definitely feels like I am non stop eating at times. 3000 calories is a good figure to hit and if it isn't getting you where you need to be, go up gradually at the rate of 500 calories. Do it once a week until you are seeing the gains you want based on what your body is asking for.

@dresende I know you'll make it, you're too determined of an individual not to!

Week 6 (12/31 - 01/05)

This week did not go the way I planned. I went down to NYC to visit family who came in from CapeTown, South Africa. I had never met my cousins before so I didn't want to pass at the opportunity. They were really genuine and it was a lot of fun!

Mon - Thurs (no workouts)

As frustrated as I was with the time off, it did me a world of good. I am always pushing myself a bit further than I should and so the rest really helped me out.

Got back at it on Friday with a double workout and then hit the gym today. So in essence I got about 50% of my routine in and some good rest. Ready to go at it again full force on Monday!

Still looking to try and hit a 500lb deadlift on week 8, the final week of this routine. It may or may not happen. Currently, the most i've put up is 465lbs but that was also after a lot of heavy work sets and without my legs being fully rested from Squat day.

Week 7 / 8 on my final bulk before our competition in July is over. Phew! One more week left and I having the most fun with my strongest lift as of late, Deadlifts.

Upped my 1rm from 465lb to 485lb in one week! I shot for 500lb but after hoisting 485 off the ground there was no chance of it. I also haven't fully rested my legs and back before attempting to hit a 1rm yet, so the goal next week is to fully rest my legs and go for the gold at 500lbs. It may not be possible right now but i'm sure going to try. I have definitely gotten closer to my old pb on deads of around 545-565lbs I believe.

Some other highlights for this week:BB Bench Press 245lbs x 4 on set 8BB Bicep Curls 120 x 4 on set 8Sled Work for legs this week, 520 x 6 on set 8 (felt light but stuck with this weight since I haven't done them in awhile)

After Week 8, i'm going to take 2-3 days off and then begin a short 3 week routine with 15 rep sets. Following that, I think i'll probably be training at a 8-10 rep range for more hypertrophy. It isn't time for longer conditioning training. I'll save that for later.

Honestly, I really need to map out the game plan for now - July (competition time) with both training and diet. Up until now, i've basically just been lifting and eating big and mainly focusing on higher protein intake. I'll give the higher protein intake a break come August.

Excited about the next couple of months. Currently weighing in around 203lbs in the am dry (down from my high of 208lbs, 3 weeks ago) Commence the cutting process!!

@Dresende @Robert Thanks!! @Mini Forklift Thanks mate! It will depend but my guess is that i'll be show ready at around 75-80 kilos.@Captfit We haven't came up with an official name for what we're doing but basically there are at least 15 dedicated vegan competitors that have agreed to compete at the same show together against other omnis so we can make a stand together. If all goes well, we may make this an annual gathering. If anyone wants to join us, it will be in Austin, TX. If you want to commit to the group, email me for more info as i'm helping to organize this and we'll get you the details

Last Major Bulking Phase is over. Missed some updates here but to sum things us a bit, i'm going to get into talking about the next workout.

Created a game plan for now to showtime and broke it up into 5 Phases. Phase 1/5 is a 3 week program with mainly high intensity sets and a lot of volume.

From a high of 208lbs bw, i'm already down to 201lbs as it's time to start leaning out. I am looking to be closer to 190 by the end of this phase.

-Current program is eating between 2700-3000 calories max daily and about 230g of protein. Still using the same combination of supplementation with the exception of creatine (I cycle this 8 weeks on 2 weeks off for 3/4 of the year) NO refined carbohydrates, NO oil, NO sugar will be allowed from here on in. There will be a "cheat" meal here or there for special occasions like Valentines Day, events, etc but for the most part no and it will only get more rigid as it gets close to show time. For exceptional results, I will need to take exceptional measures to get there.

PHASE I WORKOUT: (repeating each daily workout 2x a day with the exception of Sunday)-3 sets per exercise and 15 reps per set unless a diff set range is specified. -Starting to do cardio again 15minutes a day 2x a day. I may increase this number as needed to lean out at the right pace.

This week was brutal but I made it through pretty much every scheduled workout! Took a break from cardio yesterday as my body wanted a rest. I'm also helping my friend move and he has 25,000+ records in his 2nd floor apartment. Needless to say, it is is a workout in and of itself.

meal program & the amount of cardio in this routine has been SPOT ON.

*Dropped from 208lbs 2 weeks ago to 197lbs this morning. *I have a cheapo $15 floor scale that shows bf% so who knows how accurate it is but I am using the same one to measure and it has shown a decrease from 19% to 16% bf. The biggest indicator is measurements which were just taken.

As you can see, there has been some definite bodyfat loss without much sacrifice in regards to size. This will of course change as I continue to lean out to 3%-4% bf for our competition at the end of July.

13 workouts this week and have trained for 11 straight days so far without rest. I am scheduling 2 rest days next sat-sun to heal up proper before phase II.

I am still looking to be between 190-195lbs by the end of next week. If it happens, I am going to stay on track with this meal program. If I come to a halt, there will be some changes made to make sure everything is happening aggressively and in time for July.

Phase 1/5 is OVER. Beginning Phase 2/5 starting tomorrow. Beat myself up pretty hard over this last 3 weeks to make some important goals happen and it appears that it all worked out. My main priority was bodyfat loss and to add some conditioning / endurance to my routines.

Trained 2x a day with cardio and weights every day without a break for 3 weeks. Just took 3 days off to rest and recover (Fri-Sun) and getting ready for the next "bulking" routine. I didn't create the workout yet but I will be later today and sharing it, of course. Cycled off creatine for the last 2 weeks and going to start up again for the next 8 weeks.

I may or may not cut out the cardio for a little bit as well as up my calories all depending on what my body starts to do. I don't want to shed body fat too quickly as not having much fat on you makes it harder to build muscle. It will be a week to week analysis with adjustments made as needed.

My goal was to be between 190-195lbs before starting the next phase and this morning I weighed in at 192.6lbs. Success!

Something else that is very noteworthy is that I dropped another 1.5" off my waist in just the last 8 days!!!

Things are going well and I am right on track for our competition in July. Although I am nervous, it is normal to be. Although I haven't consistently trained over the last couple of years, I have for the last 6 months and I will do the best with what I have come showtime.

I've also been hard at work organizing our team of vegan athletes. Vegan Olympia 2013 will be the largest gathering of vegan muscle at one show that I know of!! There are 20+ confirmed competitors, many of whom are forum members and well known. We are going to make this an annual event also! We are not accepting any more team members for the 2013 comp however come fall, we will be accepting new members for the 2014 meet up. For more info, check us out athttp://www.PlantBuilt.com

Ok, so here's my update.

I am currently 12 weeks out from competing. Phase 4 / 5 starts today. During the first 4 weeks, I will be attempting to train 2x a day. Since I was losing body fat rapidly, I slowed down the cutting process. I am guessing that i'm around 12% bf or less. Here are my stats weighted out against the last measurements on February 2nd.

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